”…it’s like in the early 1900’s Victorian era when guests would retire to the parlor to participate in various games and activites”, design historian Grace Jeffers on attending a viewing of the World’s Smallest Table, where the table must be viewed with a magnifying glass.

NEW YORK CITY, October 22, 2008. Just back from the September 2008 MAISON & OBJET show in Paris, the smallest table in the world is planning a hop around the globe. The tiny table is a replica of the big table designed by Jan Habraken and Sergio Maninno for Kikkerland Design at the 2008 International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in May. The tiny table was ‘built’ in Italy by Jozeph Forakis at the cost of $1500. The World’s Smallest Table made it’s debut at the Dieu Donné Art Gallery in New York City during Design Week in May this year.

Actual Big Table is 13ft, or 396.24cm (rendering above)

396.24cm = 3962.4mm

3,962.4 divided by 500 = 7.924mm in Length, or precisely 1/500 scale.   

The tiny table is exactly 7.924mm in Length, or precisely 1/500th scale.

In other words, if you take 500 of the Little Big Tables and line them up end-to-end, they will be the same length as the 13ft Big Table.

The 3D modeling took over 20 hours: most of that time was spent perfecting the “draping” & “folding” effect of the tablecloth to get it just right.

It is made using ultra-high resolution 3D-printing technology, with a special resin that is being used, among other applications, for highly detailed, high precision, small scale jewelry.

The Bordeaux color is the natural color of the resin…which is a good thing: at this scale, any attempt to paint the Little Big Table would have dramatically diminished the surface detailing and would have been the equivalent of adding 3-5cm of thickness in scale.

Dates and locations for the Smallest Table in the World will be announced before the end of the year.

Grace Jeffers, Josh Owen and Roberto Bertoia at the Dieu Donné Art Gallery in New York City during Design Week, May 2008.